Baalke acknowledges 49ers’ trade-up interest in LSU’s Beckham

The pre-draft buzz was correct: The 49ers were interested in trading up for LSU wide receiver Odell Beckham.

The price to grab the dynamic speedster, however, was deemed too high.

General manager Trent Baalke said the 49ers explored multiple trade possibilities during the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night before they decided to stay at No. 30 and select Northern Illinois defensive back Jimmie Ward.

In the run-up to the draft the 49ers were “very interested” in Beckham, a source told The Chronicle. Asked specifically about trying to trade up for Beckham, Baalke acknowledged he was a player of interest. Beckham was selected by the Giants with the No. 12 pick.

“We certainly liked him as a football player, no doubt about it,” Baalke said. “But … the price of doing business when you’re trying to move from (No. 30) up into the top 10 or close to the top 10 becomes pretty stiff. And you’re giving up a lot of football players to go get one football player. And if you look at history, a lot of time it works against you.”

The 49ers’ own history helps illustrate the point. In 1995, they surrendered four picks, including a first-rounder in 1996, to move up 20 spots and select UCLA’s J.J. Stokes No. 10 overall. A more recent example comes from Thursday night: The Bills surrendered the No. 9 pick, a 2015 first-round pick and a 2015 fourth-rounder to the Browns to move up five spots and draft Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins.

The good news for the 49ers is they have 10 more picks, including two second-rounders and three third-rounders Friday to grab at least one wideout from what’s viewed as a historically deep class.

“We feel good about the wide receiver corps all the way through the draft,” Baalke said. “We feel there’s going to be value to be had at every level. That’s one of the positions we felt all along had some depth to it.”